Poodles get a bad rap as frilly leash candy. For this, we can blame the French.

Forget Best in Show. The poodle has hunting-dog roots, which were developed in central Europe—particularly, in the area that would become Germany—in the 16th and 17th centuries. But during the 18th century, the breed became popular among French nobles, who, vainly imitating their own ornate hairstyles, had their pets’ coats elaborately clipped and primped.

It’s little wonder that when the American Kennel Club first registered the poodle in 1887, it fell into the non-sporting group. Over the years, the poodle’s hunting instincts had diminished, because it was bred for companionship and as a show dog. Poodles also have hair instead of fur, which—given enough Aqua Net—makes it possible to sculpt them like topiary. But it’s also interesting to note that they are the only non-sporting AKC dogs eligible for retriever hunting tests.

Searching online for a Virginia breeder of hunting poodles, I came across Four Oakes Kennels in Danville, which produces the pudelpointer—a cross between a poodle and an English pointer. Close, but no zigarre. Fortunately, I also came across the story of Charlottesville-area hunter Jason Pittman, who had acquired his dog, Walker, from Louter Creek Hunting Poodles, near Atlanta. Louter Creek is the South’s premier breeder of these specialized dogs. They are ideal for a hunt. Their webbed feet make them good swimmers, and they demonstrate agility, obedience, and eagerness to complete a task, such as fetching a bird shot out of the sky.

“Guys would laugh when they saw Walker come out of the truck,” Pittman said in the Garden & Gun article. “My joke was ‘Laugh now, but you’ll be crying after you see him work.’” In AKC competitions with Pittman, Walker has earned Junior Hunter and Senior Hunter titles.

I spoke with Rick Louter, who owns and runs Louter Creek with his wife, Angie. The couple has been breeding poodles as working dogs for close to 15 years, during which time they have also trained about 200 of them for water-fowl and upland-bird hunting. In early April, the Louters were in the midst of putting 12 seven-month-old standards through a four-month program.

“A poodle makes a fantastic bird dog,” Rick Louter tells Unbound. “They’ve got such a good nose—I’d put ’em up against any of the more popular hunting breeds for that alone. There’s more to it than that, of course—and people are catching on. We are seeing an uptick of poodles in hunting trials.”

All dogs, except those corrupted by humans to behave badly, deserve praise. But I challenge any breed to both rock the show ring and fetch a duck like a poodle.

Upon finding the source of the Jackson River, parent to the James River, Earl Swift writes in Journey on the James: Three Weeks through the Heart of Virginia: “From this trickle grows a river that offered sustenance to Indian and early colonist, carried pioneers to new lands of the West,

Many years ago, in a different life, it seems, I steered a little aluminum boat with an outboard motor across the glistening surface of a lake. The memory is so vivid that it includes the oily smell of the exhaust swirling around my head and mixing with piney puffs of the soft summer air. In

Science has proven the extraordinary connection between humans and dogs, but perhaps the best evidence of the bond is easier to find—when people and their pups get outside and play. Earlier this year, dogs made headlines for astonishing outdoor-sporting feats, much to the joy and gratitude of

In a self-styled art town like Charlottesville, you don’t have to step into a gallery to have an art encounter. There are lots of places to see murals, sculptures, and even interactive works from your car or the sidewalk, or while strolling through the IX Art Park. Increasing the accessibility,

On six-week jaunts over several years, Charlottesville’s Chris Register crisscrossed the country on his bike, interviewing people for his book series Conversations With US: Two Wheels, Fifty States, Hundreds of Voices, One America. The first volume, published in early 2019, is based on his

When we asked Shawn Tevendale, owner of Blue Ridge Cyclery, to recommend a killer trail bike to feature, he emailed a link back within a minute to the mechanical wonder you see here. “It’s like a monster truck,” Tevendale says. “It’ll go anywhere you want it to, and crush it.” Tevendale also

I’ve been doing strength competitions for just about a year and a half, so I’ve worked hard to get to where I am. My current national ranking is second in the women’s amateur heavyweight division. That’s according to the Arnold Corporation, the governing body for Strongman and Strongwoman

When Devin Floyd and his team at the Center for Urban Habitats design gardens, they don’t just think about which plants will bloom in which season. Their approach is far more complex, encompassing the request that client David Wimberley made when he first hired them in 2014. “He came to us

Earl Swift is the author of seven books, including the urgent and poignant Chesapeake Requiem: A Year with the Watermen of Vanishing Tangier Island. It was named a best book of 2018 by NPR, The Washington Post, Outside, Bloomberg, and Smithsonian, among others, and recently won a Reed

If you think that the end of summer means it’s time to put away the hiking boots, think again. Fall and winter in Virginia are fantastic seasons to walk in the woods—for 15 minutes or a whole day. It’s easier to see the mountains we live among when the trees aren’t fully in leaf, and […]

As I write this, it’s mid-August, and my vegetable garden has the crazy look it always does this time of year—overflowing its boundaries here, bare and shorn there, roiling with weeds in more places than not. We’re getting food out of it (zucchini, peppers, hey-need-some-basil?) but it’s not

Albemarle County’s natural beauty and biodiversity attracts plenty of explorers, and lots of them like to keep track of what they find. iNaturalist.org, an online site (and mobile app) developed by UC Berkeley graduate students in 2008, links scientists and naturalists who want to learn more

Enjoying nature is free, but gearing up for a camping trip or extended hike can become an expensive proposition, especially when choosing quality equipment. Erin James and Seth Herman, outdoors enthusiasts who met in Charlottesville in 2010, have addressed that problem (and more) with their new

Horses and all things equestrian abound here in the Charlottesville area. From stables offering boarding, lessons, and trail rides to venues for foxhunting and polo, this community is a horse-lover’s paradise. Grace Ayyildiz of Free Union found her passion for horses at a young age. At 7 years

While the average person can distinguish a bluebird from a cardinal and a duck from a goose, bird-watching hobbyists, called “birders,” revel in the vastness of the avian world. “There’s a real excitement when you’re out birding,” says Myrlene Staten, membership chair for the Monticello Bird

“Come on, guys, cheer on your bowler!” The prompt sends a wave of encouragement from the fielders as one of the bowlers for the Charlottesville Cricket Club gets a running start and uses a round-arm action to hurl the leather-bound ball down the dirt pitch toward the heavily padded batter at

Between Shenandoah National Park, Ivy Creek and Ragged Mountain (among others), there are (seemingly) more than enough natural attractions in our area. But we can’t overlook Charlottesville’s proximity to other noteworthy nature spots. Here are three we’re crossing off our list this season.

The photographer Robert Llewellyn looks at things differently than you and I. While we might point out the colorful crocuses that dot the snow-covered front lawn of his Earlysville home, Llewellyn really sees them. And he wants to be certain a visitor does too, bending down to point out the

Born from conversations with hikers on the Pacific Crest Trail in 2006, local gear company Yama Mountain combines founder Gen Shimizu’s love of designing and making with his appreciation for the outdoors. “Yama is the result of those passions coming together,” he says. The company’s products,